The future of Amazon delivery appears to be completely automated,
but the company has quite a way to go on the legal front. Bezos
says that the Amazon drones could be in operation by 2015, but
acknowledges that timeline as optimistic.

Hobbyist drones, like those used by videographers to get awesome
shots, are limited to operating no higher 400 feet. But Amazon's
drones are large commercial instruments without pilots, and
they'd be carrying payloads up to five pounds in weight a
distance of up to 10 miles. Quartz
puts it bluntly – drones can explode and run into things.
This type of drone is currently outside the bounds of the law for
a reason.

So if Amazon's miracle drones aren't an imminent practical
reality with the laws set up as they are, why would it spill the
beans?

It was likely a move designed to get the public to share Amazon's
vision of what the future could look like. When the
time actually does come for this stuff to get regulated, public
opinion will be paramount. (And
Amazon is probably also glad to catapult itself into the news the
night before the biggest online shopping day of the year.)